An Embedded Linux on a Single Floppy (opens in new tab)

(github.com)

73 pointsmodinfo8d ago42 comments

42 comments

22 comments · 7 top-level

littlecranky675d ago· 11 in thread

I remember around 2002 running my home router without any hdd on fli4l - a single floppy linux router distribution. I slept in the same room as the router was, hence I wanted a solution without a noisy hdd from that era.

d3Xt3r5d ago

There was also tomsrtbt[1], which was a staple in my "rescue" floppy collection. Along with the QNX floppy[2], which came in super handy when using a cyber café or a friend's PC, and you wanted to avoid all the keyloggers and malware.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomsrtbt

[2] http://toastytech.com/guis/qnxdemo.html

dredmorbius5d ago

Trinux was another such utility. It spanned multiple floppies, but booted to RAM and could effectively run from one. The additional disks were for additional tools/utilities.

Still apparently available on Sourceforge.net, though last updated in 2013:

<https://sourceforge.net/projects/trinux/>

queenkjuul5d ago

Every time i pull out my tomsrtbt floppy i try to pronounce tomsrtbt in my head and it's always different

s0rce5d ago

I used Freesco another single floppy distribution around that time. I tihnk I had in on old pentium 66 MHz

a965d ago

I remember some people booting firewalls off CD-R's. Burn a new one when it needed an update. Booting with no writable media at all, truly an immutable distro.

frrlpp5d ago

Freesco router floppy disk distro in 386 with 2MB of RAM and no hard disk. You could pull the floppy for a secure read only router.

elevation5d ago

Was the floppy quieter than an HD?

hackernudes5d ago

Probably only used the floppy to boot into a ramdisk.

littlecranky675d ago

Exactly.

ErroneousBosh5d ago

When it wasn't in use, yes. Even when it was the noise it made was a lot softer than the dentist's drill of a hard disk spinning up.

ForOldHack5d ago

At the same time, I was running a home router without any HDD on LRP, Linux Router Project, which was a distribution from Swansea Linux, and was a floppy image, that decompressed into RAM, and then chrood to the RAM image. Really nifty, except for the 486 machine had a Pentium Overdrive, which was vulnerable to F00F, and we got owned... only to reboot again, and back to our normal image.

Since it had no hard disk, and no monitor, it was quiet, and used little power.

muppetman5d ago· 4 in thread

I wonder why it needs 20MB minimum. Back in the day linux 2.0.33 would boot happily into a GUI and everything on an 8MB machine.

Or maybe I misremember... I know my machine at the time got upgraded to 24MB so maybe it was that machine I was running.

Anyway it's neat this can still be done.

walrus015d ago

I'm going to guess from the size of the kernel, since for distribution it has to be a fairly 'generic' kernel with just about every driver built into it. If one were to compile a custom 6.14 kernel for a specific hardware target with only 1 model of NIC (3c509b for example), etc, it could be a lot smaller.

dcminter5d ago

You could run X11 in 4Mb at one point, although I rather wished I didn't.

EvanAnderson5d ago

Yikes-- bringing back memories of frustration. X11 on my 486SX w/ 4MB was excruciating. It would swap like crazy. Adding 8MB more RAM made such a difference. Kernel compiles were much less swappy, too. (I can still the buy I bought the four 2MB 30-pin SIMMs secondhand from but I can't remember how much I gave for them in 1993 or 1994. I feel like it was more than $100, though...)

kjs35d ago

I think you could run 2.0 + X11 in 4MB in a pinch. I know I ran 2.2 + X11 in 5MB on a cast-off i386SX; tight but useable. If I recall right, 2.0 & 2.2 would run in 2MB without X11 (but a GUI like MGR might fit). 8MB was pretty good and 16MB was positively spacious.

Edit: Add: 2MB/4MB boot with a stripped down kernel, not generic.

buttocks5d ago

I wonder why the 486 DX is supported but not the SX. How is the math coprocessing unit necessary for kernel and basic system tools?

1 more reply

bandrami5d ago

This is straining my geriatric memory, but I'm pretty sure my first install of Slackware in 1994 involved 18 floppy disks

h4kunamata5d ago

2000 Coyote Linux keeping a whole university network going while running from a floppy disk joined the chat.

The idea is cool but anything nowadays has USB ports, there is no suck solution to run from those devices.

nycerrrrrrrrrr5d ago

1 more reply

znpy5d ago

“Floppydistros” were a thing back in the day.

When i was 12 or 13 in the very early 2000s i tried to download something called “coyote linux” (from sourceforge iirc) and boot it on an internet cafe pc because i really wanted to try this linux thing.

But i was very nooby and of course it mostly didn’t go anywhere. I have vague memories of maybe getting it to boot, getting a shell and then not know what to do with it.

Fun times :)

2 more replies

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42 comments

22 comments · 7 top-level

littlecranky675d ago· 11 in thread

d3Xt3r5d ago

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomsrtbt

[2] http://toastytech.com/guis/qnxdemo.html

dredmorbius5d ago

Trinux was another such utility. It spanned multiple floppies, but booted to RAM and could effectively run from one. The additional disks were for additional tools/utilities.

Still apparently available on Sourceforge.net, though last updated in 2013:

<https://sourceforge.net/projects/trinux/>

queenkjuul5d ago

Every time i pull out my tomsrtbt floppy i try to pronounce tomsrtbt in my head and it's always different

s0rce5d ago

I used Freesco another single floppy distribution around that time. I tihnk I had in on old pentium 66 MHz

a965d ago

I remember some people booting firewalls off CD-R's. Burn a new one when it needed an update. Booting with no writable media at all, truly an immutable distro.

frrlpp5d ago

Freesco router floppy disk distro in 386 with 2MB of RAM and no hard disk. You could pull the floppy for a secure read only router.

elevation5d ago

Was the floppy quieter than an HD?

hackernudes5d ago

Probably only used the floppy to boot into a ramdisk.

littlecranky675d ago

Exactly.

ErroneousBosh5d ago

When it wasn't in use, yes. Even when it was the noise it made was a lot softer than the dentist's drill of a hard disk spinning up.

ForOldHack5d ago

Since it had no hard disk, and no monitor, it was quiet, and used little power.

muppetman5d ago· 4 in thread

I wonder why it needs 20MB minimum. Back in the day linux 2.0.33 would boot happily into a GUI and everything on an 8MB machine.

Or maybe I misremember... I know my machine at the time got upgraded to 24MB so maybe it was that machine I was running.

Anyway it's neat this can still be done.

walrus015d ago

dcminter5d ago

You could run X11 in 4Mb at one point, although I rather wished I didn't.

EvanAnderson5d ago

kjs35d ago

Edit: Add: 2MB/4MB boot with a stripped down kernel, not generic.

buttocks5d ago

I wonder why the 486 DX is supported but not the SX. How is the math coprocessing unit necessary for kernel and basic system tools?

1 more reply

bandrami5d ago

This is straining my geriatric memory, but I'm pretty sure my first install of Slackware in 1994 involved 18 floppy disks

h4kunamata5d ago

2000 Coyote Linux keeping a whole university network going while running from a floppy disk joined the chat.

The idea is cool but anything nowadays has USB ports, there is no suck solution to run from those devices.

nycerrrrrrrrrr5d ago

1 more reply

znpy5d ago

“Floppydistros” were a thing back in the day.

But i was very nooby and of course it mostly didn’t go anywhere. I have vague memories of maybe getting it to boot, getting a shell and then not know what to do with it.

Fun times :)

2 more replies

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse